Intentions to Marry, 1925 Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840530, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

1925 is bound in eight volumes (a to h) with continuous page numbers. Each volume contains a different set of districts, going from north to south.

1925c contains pages 925-1356, covering districts from Rangiriri to Whangamomona

Page 1200

District of Hawera Quarter ending 31 March 1925 Registrar J. S. O'Gorman

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

10 February 1925

Samuel Horace Liggins
Mary Ann Bacon

Samuel Horace Liggins
Mary Ann Bacon
💍 1925/1184

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Domestic duties

21
21

Hawera
Hawera

3 days
2 weeks

Registrar's office Hawera

1732

10 February 1925

J. S. O'Gorman, Registrar

No	6
Date of Notice	10 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Samuel Horace Liggins	Mary Ann Bacon
	💍 1925/1184
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Domestic duties
Age	21	21
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	3 days	2 weeks
Marriage Place	Registrar's office Hawera
Folio	1732
Consent
Date of Certificate	10 February 1925
Officiating Minister	J. S. O'Gorman, Registrar

19 February 1925

Albert John Hughes
Lillian Myrtle Hart

Albert John Hughes
Lillian Myrtle Hart
💍 1925/1161

Bachelor
Spinster

Butcher
Domestic duties

23
17

Hawera
Hawera

23 years
16 years

Residence of W. H. Hughes, Nolantown, Hawera

1733

Fanny Elizabeth Hart, mother

19 February 1925

R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

No	7
Date of Notice	19 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Albert John Hughes	Lillian Myrtle Hart
	💍 1925/1161
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Butcher	Domestic duties
Age	23	17
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	23 years	16 years
Marriage Place	Residence of W. H. Hughes, Nolantown, Hawera
Folio	1733
Consent	Fanny Elizabeth Hart, mother
Date of Certificate	19 February 1925
Officiating Minister	R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

23 February 1925

Zala Cromer Tatton
Dorothy Isobel Watts, commonly known as Combes

Zala Cromer Tatton
Dorothy Isobel Combes
💍 1925/1162

Bachelor
Spinster

Marine Engineer
Domestic duties

25
25

Hawera
Hawera

10 days
3 weeks

Church of England, Hawera

1734

23 February 1925

H. W. Monaghan, Anglican

No	8
Date of Notice	23 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Zala Cromer Tatton	Dorothy Isobel Watts, commonly known as Combes
BDM Match (73%)	Zala Cromer Tatton	Dorothy Isobel Combes
	💍 1925/1162
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Marine Engineer	Domestic duties
Age	25	25
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	10 days	3 weeks
Marriage Place	Church of England, Hawera
Folio	1734
Consent
Date of Certificate	23 February 1925
Officiating Minister	H. W. Monaghan, Anglican

26 February 1925

Wilmer Owen Priest
Margaret Janet Frances Dewar

Wilmer Owen Priest
Margaret Janet Frances Dewar
💍 1925/1163

Bachelor
Spinster

Labourer
Nurse

29
34

Hawera
Hawera

1 month
3 years

Roman Catholic Church, Hawera

1735

26 February 1925

P. J. Gower, Roman Catholic

No	9
Date of Notice	26 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Wilmer Owen Priest	Margaret Janet Frances Dewar
	💍 1925/1163
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Labourer	Nurse
Age	29	34
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	1 month	3 years
Marriage Place	Roman Catholic Church, Hawera
Folio	1735
Consent
Date of Certificate	26 February 1925
Officiating Minister	P. J. Gower, Roman Catholic

27 February 1925

Stanley Harold Strong
Dorothy Caroline Pugh

Stanley Harold Strong
Dorothea Caroline Pugh
💍 1925/1164

Divorced Decree absolute 14 February 1925
Spinster

Painter
Waitress

34
26

Hawera
Hawera

10 months
4 years

Presbyterian Church, Hawera

1736

27 February 1925

R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

No	10
Date of Notice	27 February 1925
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Stanley Harold Strong	Dorothy Caroline Pugh
BDM Match (95%)	Stanley Harold Strong	Dorothea Caroline Pugh
	💍 1925/1164
Condition	Divorced Decree absolute 14 February 1925	Spinster
Profession	Painter	Waitress
Age	34	26
Dwelling Place	Hawera	Hawera
Length of Residence	10 months	4 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church, Hawera
Folio	1736
Consent
Date of Certificate	27 February 1925
Officiating Minister	R. E. Evans, Presbyterian

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

100% Contrast

100% Brightness

What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Primary digitisation of registers between 1855 and 1925 is now complete. Our digitisation volunteers are now working on verifying the currently digitised pages against printed district/page indexes, to identify pages which may have been missed or out of focus. These pages can be re-imaged as required.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

How can I help?

You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

You can also support this project by ☕ Buying us a coffee 🌳

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).